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# suck

«suck» in Mova's school dictionary: **to pull liquid or air into your mouth by tightening your…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (suck, sucks, sucked, sucking)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To suck is to pull liquid or air into your mouth by tightening your lips and cheeks, as through a straw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#m1)

2) To suck something, like a sweet or your thumb, is to keep it in your mouth and move your tongue and lips around it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#m2)

3) To suck something in or up is to pull it with force, as a vacuum cleaner does. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#m3)

4) (Informal, a bit rude) Something «sucks» if it is bad or unpleasant. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science, a vacuum cleaner sucks up dust by making lower air pressure inside; in nature, mosquitoes suck blood and bees suck nectar; babies suck milk. In safety, strong water currents and drains can suck swimmers or hair in — keep away from pool drains and rip currents. Phrases: «suck through a straw», «suck your thumb», «suck up», «suck in», «sucked in» (tricked, Australian).

### examples

- He sucked his drink through a straw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x1)
- The baby sucks her thumb when she's tired. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x2)
- The vacuum cleaner sucked up the crumbs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x3)
- A mosquito sucks blood. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x4)
- Bees suck nectar from flowers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x5)
- Don't suck on pencils; it's not clean. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x6)
- Strong currents can suck swimmers out to sea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x7)
- Suck in your tummy for the photo. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x8)
- But generally he sucks the blood of sleepers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/#x9)

### note

Regular verb: sucked. The informal «it sucks» is slang and impolite in class; say «it's bad» or «that's a pity». Do not confuse «suck» with «sock». A straw works because sucking lowers the air pressure in your mouth and the air pushes the liquid up.

### In the corpora

- [Baby elephants stay close to mothers and aunts, who circle them when lions or hyenas come; babies suck their trunks for comfort.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice/16/)
- [Walruses find clams on the dark seabed with hundreds of sensitive whiskers and suck them out of their shells.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/169-the-arctic-ocean-walruses-bowheads-the-400-year-shark-and-the-unicorns-tooth/5/)
- [Look at a rose stem covered in tiny green aphids sucking sweet sap.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/334-the-garden-in-summer-flowers-aphids-ladybirds-and-flying-ant-day/1/)
- [Suck a slice of lemon and your whole face screws up.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/15-acids-in-the-kitchen/0/)
- [Never cut a bite, suck out venom or tie a tight cord around the limb.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/25-snakes-spiders-and-scorpions/16/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «suck» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suck/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.